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Nutritionalmarketing.com Weekly Newsletter Update
- Marketing Ideas, Information and Tips Nutritional Retailers Want
and Need!!
Volume
3, Issue #16 - April 18, 2002
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In
this issue:
The tale of three mailers
Cost vs. investment
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The
tale of three mailers
I’m one of the presenters
at a conference this week. I’m conducting a program on marketing and
how to grow your business.
Well, it’s interesting
to me that since I’m "on the list," I’ve received some mailers from
companies asking me to visit them at the show. I won’t mention any
of the companies by name, but I would guess you might recognize them
if I did. Who sent the mailers isn’t important. But what they sent
is very important.
Here are my thoughts
on these three mailers that are all trying to accomplish the same thing
- to get me to visit the company’s booth and find out more about their
products.
Mailer #1
Mailer number one
arrived in a standard #10 envelope addressed to me at my office. It
was a generic-looking mailer, but I opened it anyway.
When I glanced at
the letter, it also looked very generic. It does have a headline that’s
reasonably decent because it at least asks a question. It reads, "Attending
the Conference?" My answer is yes, but the headline does not get me
to take action.
The letter is only
four paragraphs. As a matter of fact, one paragraph is only four words
long.
The first paragraph
starts with, "If so, stop by Booth No XXX where we’ll show you what’s
new at (Company)." This is a terrible way to start a mailer. It has
nothing to do with me, the reader, or what’s of interest to me. It
talks only about the company. This is a great example of the "how great
thou art" letters I talk about!
The other three
short paragraphs say nothing that would get me to plan to visit their
booth. This letter is generic with a capital G.
When you write a
letter for your mailer, it needs to address what the reader cares about.
It could also offer something FREE that will get the reader’s interest.
There’s more, as
if these mistakes aren’t enough. The letter isn’t signed and doesn’t
even have someone’s name on it! What a warm, personalized letter!
Overall, this is
a great example of how NOT to write a letter for your mailer!
Mailer #2
This mailer was
one of my favorite Amazingmail.com postcards! It starts with a great
black-and-white photograph on the front. That’s an excellent way to
get my attention. People like to look at photographs even if they don’t
know what they are.
The photo is a picture
of a mountain climber. This is not a new look for the industry but
still very interesting and eye catching.
The copy on the
back is not the greatest ever but it includes a couple of very important
elements.
First, it offers
a discount. This gives me a good reason to take action now and not
wait. When you offer a discount or a premium and put a time limit on
it, you’re encouraging people to take action now! That is very important.
Second, they included
their toll-free phone number twice on the postcard. Now, I know some
of you are thinking that’s a waste of space and that people will find
the number anyway in such a small mailer! But by putting your phone
number more than once in even such a limited amount of text, you’re
making it so easy to contact you that people can’t help but do it.
This postcard is
a good way to reach your customers and prospects quickly and with limited
expense!
Mailer #3
The final mailer
was the pièce de résistance. It was a wonderful poster in a clear mailing
tube. When this mailer arrived, the person who brings me the mail even
commented that it looked very interesting! This shows that the mailer
accomplished its first goal: getting noticed so people want to open
it.
I took the end off
the tube, unrolled the poster and was immediately amazed! The poster
is very colorful and it ties in with the Dallas cowboy theme. It’s
wonderful! The graphics and overall design look great.
The copy is fun
and interesting to read. And there’s a kicker at the end - something
FREE! The company offers a year’s worth of hot sauce if you win a drawing!
All you need to do is visit their booth and fill out a form. This is
great! They tied the drawing and theme together and made it very fun!
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Cost vs. investment
I’m sure some of
you are wondering about the cost of the poster and clear tube. I really
want people to understand that when it comes to the cost of marketing,
you need to view it as an investment. If I spend $1 per mailer for
the generic letter and $2.50 for the poster, which is cheaper? Which
is a better investment?
I can’t answer the
second question for sure because we didn’t do either of the mailers.
I don’t know the response rate they generated. But I do know this -
if the $2.50 mailer in the clear tube gets more qualified prospects
to your booth, it may be a much better investment.
The postcard is
very inexpensive and could be a much better application than a generic
letter. The letter may appear to be cost effective when in reality
it’s just plain old cheap.
Marketing is not
just about the cost. You also need to look at what it generates to
your bottom line over time.
As always, have
fun with marketing!
Marty
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Quote
"To get others to
do what you want them to do, you must see things through their eyes."
David J. Schwartz
One of the mailers
never thought of seeing it through my eyes! The other two cared enough
to excite my eyes and that will often generate great marketing results.
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Please
note that all of the marketing ideas that are mentioned in our enewsletter
or on our web site are designed to help you grow your business. As
you know one size does not fit all and some of the ideas may work better
for specific applications.
